The high cost of justice: States take steps to ensure access for all

Sunday

Nov 25, 2007 at 3:15 AMNov 25, 2007 at 6:21 AM

By CHLOE JOHNSONStaff Writer

Dan Koslofsky knows how much money a lawyer can make in a large firm.

He could have tried for a six-figure salary in New York City like some of the people he went to law school with, but he preferred to help people like those from the poor, rural area of northern New York state where he grew up, he said.

The 30-year-old Portsmouth resident now is a staff attorney for New Hampshire Legal Assistance, a nonprofit offering legal help to those who can't afford representation in court.

"We take as many cases as we can and provide the best representation we can," Koslofsky said.

But he added that there's still a vast unmet need.

The increasing expense and complexity of pursuing matters in court has inspired efforts in roughly half the country's states to increase accessibility to justice. New Hampshire and Maine recently have joined the group of states working on the problem.

In New Hampshire, the state Supreme Court established an Access to Justice Commission in January. It's seeking ways to make legal representation more affordable and self-representation more feasible, said state Supreme Court Associate Justice James Duggan, who co-chairs the commission with Steven McAuliffe, the state's U.S. District Court chief judge.

A key goal is to address an increase in people who come to court without representation. The number is up to about 300 people annually in the Supreme Court alone, Duggan said.

The commission has committees, and their members have met regularly to begin implementing initiatives, Duggan said.

"We're not just here to study things," he added.

The group's goals include:

q Increasing resources and funding for access to justice in civil matters

q Designing initiatives for people who don't qualify for existing aid programs but still have limited access to justice

q Encouraging free- or reduced-cost services available from nonprofits as well as lawyers who do pro bono work.

State Supreme Court Chief Justice John Broderick Jr. also has made a commitment to making justice more accessible, affordable and understandable in his post as administrator of the state courts, which he assumed in 2004. He's visited numerous private law firms to encourage them to take more pro bono work, among other actions.

John Tobin, executive director of New Hampshire Legal Assistance, said the organization can take on only the most severe cases.

"And we can't even take all of those," he said.

They can offer advice for most of the roughly 10,000 people who call each year, but only can work in-depth with less than 2,000, he said. The system serves citizens well — if they can afford it, he said.

While there are some cases in which a lawyer will work on a contingent basis, earning a percent of what is won, lawyers usually are paid by the hour — an average $150 — or charge a fee up front, he said.

"It is too expensive," he added. "It's not fair."

Representation for complicated cases is out of reach for even many middle-income people, he said.

The organization in 2005 began letting some "working poor" people get free or reduced services.

State funding has let the nonprofit expand to seven offices.

Attorney Russell Hilliard, with the law firm Upton and Hatfield in Portsmouth, said the firm usually is working on one pro bono case at any given time.

"We feel obligated to the justice system to see that people who otherwise might not have access to the system get it," he said. "After all, they should have access."

In addition, the New Hampshire Bar Foundation, an organization he chairs, is working to make courthouses and legal procedures more user-friendly for those who choose to be self-represented, he said. This includes making buildings easier to navigate and making legal paperwork easier to read.

Still, he said, "even what we thought of as routine and simple cases have become increasingly complex."

The Bar Foundation is a charitable organization dedicated to ensuring people can understand and access the justice system. It's distinct from the New Hampshire Bar Association, a nonprofit promoting the justice system's interests and to which all attorneys practicing in the state must belong.

Jackie Colburn, director of legal services for New Hampshire Public Defender, a nonprofit firm of the state's public defenders, said its attorneys are assigned to criminal cases in which loss of liberty may be the punishment and the accused can't afford an attorney.

"The need for quality representation for people who otherwise would not have it has gone up significantly in the last five years," she said.

The firm had to hire more lawyers as a result, she said.

Low-income people also can seek legal help at the Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord. But Peter Wright, director of the school's law clinic, where students work on cases, said Franklin Pierce only can take one case for about every 25 calls received for consumer and commercial cases or administrative law. The clinic selects those with a severe need for litigation and a viable legal issue. The school also accepts referrals from higher courts in criminal cases.

"We're a nation under law, and we respect the rule of law. We want people to settle disputes through the courts, and we make the courts available. The problem is there's a very high barrier to gaining access," Wright said. "There should be measures in place to reduce the barriers."

He said he was "acutely aware" of how expensive law services are when he was in private practice.

But, he said, the costs of running a law office, with rent, insurance, research sources, bar dues and school loans to pay is high — about $75,000 per year. He said the pay for three of five work days went to keeping his firm's door open.